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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Devils and the Rangers will renew their Hudson River rivalry when they meet for the first time in the new season tonight at Prudential Center.

The Rangers’ last visit here for was Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals, which ended on Adam Henrique’s overtime goal that sent the Devils into the Stanley Cup Finals.

That series added a new chapter to the rivalry.

“Every game was so hard-fought, it was impossible to not get caught up in it,” Devils coach Pete DeBoer said this morning. “It was just great hockey. Hopefully, we can recapture some of that this year.”

The teams were evenly matched during the regular season with each winning three times (the Devils once in a shootout). That carried over into the playoff series until the Devils were eventually able to wear down the Rangers with their forecheck and depth up front.

“There’s very little difference between the two teams. I think you saw that,” DeBoer said. “The story of our playoffs – not just against the Rangers, but against everybody – was how well Marty (Brodeur) played and the contributions we got from the depth of our lineup. I think the Rangers’ series that was the same formula for success.”

The Devils’ depth advantage was evident last season in the play of their fourth line – now their third line – of Ryan Carter, Stephen Gionta and Steve Bernier. Carter (three goals) assists), Gionta (one goal, two assists) and Bernier (three assists) combined for four goals and five assists in the series.

“We tried to stick to the same game plan every night,” Gionta said in explaining the line’s success in that series. “Just getting it in behind their D and then forechecking them and trying to get that offensive zone play and wear them down. That’s kind of where we get our success from."

Henrique, who will turn 23 Wednesday, said he played in some heated rivalries in junior with Windsor against London and Plymouth. But those didn’t really compare to the Devils-Rangers rivalry.

“This is a different level, I think,” Henrique said. “I was only four in ’94. You always knew growing up that there was a rivalry. You’d always see the clips from ’94 and then again last year really heated the rivalry up again in the playoffs with us winning. They’re fun games to play in. It’s exciting. You know it’s going to be a good game and a good match-up. We’re going to bring our best and they’re going to bring their best when we go head to head.”

***After, perhaps, taking some teams by surprise last season with their aggressive forecheck, the Devils are noticing opponents are better prepared for it and also utilizing at times a similar style of play.

“It takes even harder work just seeing that teams are coming out and playing harder and they are better prepared and you see that other teams are starting to instill some of our systems and we’re getting some of our own medicine some nights,” defenseman Bryce Salvador said. “It just makes it a little bit more of a challenge in terms of you’ve got to be prepared and you’ve got to realize it’s not going to be easy just because you had some success last year.”

“I think what I’ve seen is definitely more preparation based on how we’re playing and some of the things we do,” DeBoer said. “But when you give coaches six months to sit around during the lockout that’s what you get. I’d like to think on our end we’re even more prepared too.”

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.